Ayr were simply too good for Boroughmuir at Meggetland. Strong players all over the park – fast, aggressive, skilful, and well organised – they work to a basic but ultra effective paradigm, which is unlikely to be seriously challenged prior to their crunch trip to the Greenyards on 15th December. That will be some game!

It was not perfect, but Currie Chieftainsmade the statement that they needed to make thanks to Robbie Nelson’s late match winning try against Heriots at Goldenacre in what Colin Renton described as a ‘humdinger of a clash’. Too many mistakes for Ben Cairns’ liking – but his set-piece stacked up, his back-row showed up well, Gregor Hunter reasserted his credentials at fly-half, and Jamie Forbes continued to look comfortable at the back – not too bad shape as they await the visitations of Watsonians and Melrose next week and the week after – when Malleny will be buzzing for two big, big matches.

One that got away so far as Phil Smith and Heriots are concerned. They were in the box seat against the Chieftains when an Andrew Simmers try gave them a 23-20 point lead with nine minutes left to play – but a couple of bad calls surrendered the initiative and their opponents took full advantage. You win some – you lose some.

Melrose at the Greenyards always felt like a tough ask for a youthful Stirling County squad – and so it proved. Unforced errors and tactical naivety are frustrating bedfellows for talented youngsters learning their trade in a tough league – but incremental gain rather than a quick fix might be the preferable approach to a problem many clubs would be happy to take on board.

Edinburgh Accies lost a game they could very easily have won and face a psychologically important match at home to Glasgow Hawks next week – when they will be encouraged by the form of their two young South Africans, George Spencer and Robbie Davis – but will need to mix their game up better than they did against Hawick – and they will need a more significant contribution from their bench than they got at Mansfield.